Midterm Week #1

PICTURES ARE UP NOW!!

Wow! Sorry again for neglecting to update this. I meant to do it Monday.. then Tuesday.. then etc., and now it's Sunday. This week has been super busy for me, and I've been frequenting the library quite a lot. It was Midterm Week 1, and Midterm Week 2 starts tomorrow, and you can bet there are almost no places to sit in Perkins right now, so I'm blogging this from the 3rd floor of McClendon Towers, where there are a bunch of tables, chairs, comfy couches, and a bar-type desk set out for people to study, etc. There's a huge tv in the room, but good thing it isn't on right now. Otherwise, I'd be way too immersed in football to do anything productive.

Saturday - The football game was pretty disappointing, but it was still awesome being out there. I've made it a goal to be at every home football game, and I'm covering the away Georgia Tech game for Chronicle, so I get to add that to my list of games to attend! During halftime, the marching band played a rendition of Taio Cruz's Break Your Heart, and they made a heart formation and split it up. It was really cool! I tried to take some pictures, but they're kind of blurry, and even though I was sitting in the third row, it still looks pretty far. Well--here goes!

Sunday - I headed out early in the morning to Wake Forest for an away tennis match. We managed to warm up and play three or four games before we got rained out and had to head back to Duke. I did take some pictures, however, of the courts, several of which were elevated and in a stadium-like format, so that was pretty awesome. After coming back, I worked on a story for The Chronicle about the volleyball team's two back-to-back victories against Georgia Tech and Clemson. Then I worked on homework in the library and prepared for my Statistics midterm on Tuesday, a French paper due Tuesday, and my Art History midterm on Wednesday. We somehow managed to snag a group study room on the fourth floor of Perkins, and it was fun studying with four other people, even though it may not have been all that productive..

Monday - Had work in the morning and worked on updating the website and working on the upcoming Sanford Newsletter, so that kept me pretty busy. After that, Gabby and I went to Art History, and we learned some more slides and prepared a little bit for the upcoming midterm. After that, I relaxed for a bit and grabbed dinner at Panda Express before heading to the library again--this time fourth floor on the bridge between Perkins and Bostock, which had a huge table and was a great place to study. I even had a great view of outside, so.. pictures!!

Tuesday - Went to American Politics, where we talked about the amendments again, and then I went to Ethics, where we talked about Nietzsche's First Treatise in On the Genealogy of Morality. After that, I read a little bit for French then grabbed lunch with a couple of friends before heading to my Stats midterm. After that, I had my French paper due, and we discussed the second chapter of Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise. That night, I returned to the library and worked on Art History with Gabby.

Wednesday - Following work, I went to Perkins and reviewed Art History for a little bit before heading over to my midterm. After that, Gabby and I got a super early dinner, and then I read for my Women & International Development class. Then I relaxed and read for my classes on Thursday, finally done with my first week of midterms. Woohoooo!

Thursday - Long day! My smoke detector went off in the morning, and my roommate and I both thought it was the fire alarm, and we finally got RLHS to shut it off after an hour and a half. I had American Politics in the morning, and we talked about the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments, and in Ethics, we discussed Darwin (I forget the name of the work) and Rousseau's On the Origin of Inequality. After that, I had a break before Stats, and I grabbed lunch at Great Hall with Caroline and Will. Then I went to Stats, where we started on Statistical Inference and went over our midterms. After, in French, we finished up going over Balzac. After that, I headed to practice in the Erg room, and we did warm-ups and rowed a 5k before stretching out. Then a couple of girls and I headed over to Cardio Dance (held Tuesdays and Thursdays in Wilson), and that was tons of fun, especially since I saw Gabby and Caroline along the way. Basically everyone just gets together and dances a choreography to hip-hop music and the like. After that, I took a shower and ate dinner before heading over to the Chronicle office to get my preview article (for Friday & Saturday's volleyball game) edited. Then I called it a pretty early night and went to bed.

Friday - I had my Stats lab in the morning, which was kind of complicated, but altogether not too bad. Then I took a break and had a quick lunch of Chik-Fil-A before going to my Ethics discussion, where we talked about the origin of morality and what Rousseau's, Darwin's, and Nietzsche's thoughts were. We also read an article featured in The New York Times that talked about Darwinists and the origin of morality, as well, so we brought that in. After that, I headed over to under Marketplace to buy a card for my big's birthday. Then I had rowing practice on the lake and got back at 7, just in time to grab a smoothie and a Cliff bar from Quenchers and watch the volleyball game against Maryland. After the game, I interviewed a couple of the players and Coach Nagel for my Chronicle story before heading back to my room and relaxing before heading out to my friend's room to hang out.

Saturday - I woke up early for practice then came back and grabbed lunch with my friend Kimi, and we talked about a bunch of random things, so that was tons of fun. Then I headed over to the walkway outside of McClendon towers and worked on homework and studied for my upcoming American Politics midterm and wrote my Ethics paper on the swingy benches. The weather was gorgeous, and the bands from Joe College Day were playing in the background. After that, I headed to Joe College Day and got a t-shirt and a free blanket, woohoo! Cute Is What We Aim For came later that night, which was awesome. After studying, I went to Sitar Indian Cuisine off-campus with some friends, and the weekend dinner buffet there was awesome, and I was sooo full when I left. Then I just hung out for a bit before preparing for Iced Out, one of the parties hosted by DTD at an off-campus warehouse sort of thing that was just a huge dance party. But we came too late and couldn't get in, so we ended up hanging out at a friend's Central Campus apartment, which was similarly fun. Then it was finally time for sleeep.

Off to do some more work now and continue studying--adios, and hopefully I'll update again after my midterm and paper on Tuesday!!